The Invisible Country

They now formed a line, holding hands, and turning
their faces toward Mount Munch resumed their journey.
They had not gone far, however, when a terrible growl
saluted their ears. The sound seemed to come from a
place just in front of them, so they halted abruptly
and remained silent, listening with all their ears.

"I smell straw!" cried a hoarse, harsh voice, with
more growls and snarls. "I smell straw, and I'm a
Hip-po-gy-raf who loves straw and eats all he can find.
I want to eat this straw! Where is it? Where is it?"

The Scarecrow, hearing this, trembled but kept
silent. All the others were silent, too, hoping that
the invisible beast would be unable to find them. But
the creature sniffed the odor of the straw and drew
nearer and nearer to them until he reached the Tin
Woodman, on one end of the line. It was a big beast and
it smelled of the Tin Woodman and grated two rows of
enormous teeth against the Emperor's tin body.

"Bah! that's not straw," said the harsh voice, and
the beast advanced along the line to Woot.

"Meat! Pooh, you're no good! I can't eat meat,"
grumbled the beast, and passed on to Polychrome.

"Sweetmeats and perfume -- cobwebs and dew! Nothing
to eat in a fairy like you," said the creature.

Now, the Scarecrow was next to Polychrome in the
line, and he realized if the beast devoured his straw
he would be helpless for a long time, because the last
farmhouse was far behind them and only grass covered
the vast expanse of plain. So in his fright he let go
of Polychrome's hand and put the hand of the Tin
Soldier in that of the Rainbow's Daughter. Then he
slipped back of the line and went to the other end,
where he silently seized the Tin Woodman's hand.

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Meantime, the beast had smelled the Tin Soldier and
found he was the last of the line.

"That's funny!" growled the Hip-po-gy-raf; "I can
smell straw, but I can't find it. Well, it's here,
somewhere, and I must hunt around until I do find it,
for I'm hungry."

His voice was now at the left of them, so they
started on, hoping to avoid him, and traveled as fast
as they could in the direction of Mount Munch.

"I don't like this invisible country," said Woot with
a shudder. "We can't tell how many dreadful, invisible
beasts are roaming around us, or what danger we'll come
to next."

"Quit thinking about danger, please," said the
Scarecrow, warningly.

"Why?" asked the boy.

"If you think of some dreadful thing, it's liable to
happen, but if you don't think of it, and no one else
thinks of it, it just can't happen. Do you see?"

"No," answered Woot. "I won't be able to see much of
anything until we escape from this enchantment."

But they got out of the invisible strip of country
as suddenly as they had entered it, and the instant
they got out they stopped short, for just before them
was a deep ditch, running at right angles as far as
their eyes could see and stopping all further progress
toward Mount Munch.